Dear Paizo et al,
I've been following Golarion since the announcement that the license for Dragon magazine was ended (or else, I'd probably have a Dragon subscription instead of a Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription), and I recently snagged Pathfinder Chronicles: Seekers of Secrets at the FLGS after some of my players wished to know more about the lodge in Magnimar, and the closest Lodge to The Stolen Lands. The book is a wealth of history, fluff, and other enjoyable bits, but the one thing that has consistently bugged me is the dearth of information on the physical Pathfinder Chronicles books themselves, in-world.
Yes, we've been given snippets of a few, but the details my players and I have actually brought up, I have no answers for. Namely:
1. How big is a typical volume? They're repeatedly called "chapbooks", which while a vague term of itself, has semi-consistently referred to a small-sized, short (i.e. <50 pages, typically, sometimes just a pamphlet) cheaply-printed book. Yet, "...many volumes come packed with maps, trap diagrams, and detailed explanations..." 1 (emphasis mine). A page length, physical dimensions, etc. would be rather helpful.
2. How frequently are the Chronicles produced? While Volumes 1-5 are touted as being some of the more popular original editions, we're not given a good idea of how frequent they're put out. In Pathfinder AP #1: Burnt Offerings, it lists Volume 56 as being "published in the last decade" 2. Seekers of Secrets quietly changes this volume's number to 36 3.
So I did the math. Being generous and assuming that Volume 56/36 was published in 4697 AR (one decade before 4707, when PF#1 is set), and given that the first Chronicles volume was published in 4317 AR 4, that gives us a 380 year time span.
-If the numbering on volume 56 is correct, that averages to 6.8 years between issues.
-If volume 36 is the correct revision, that averages out to a whopping 10.6 years per every issue.
3a. Is this correct? For an organization with so many agents and projects going on at any given time, this number seems bizarrely low.
3b. That said, as of 4710, what volume are the Pathfinder Chronicles up to/when is the next volume expected?
4. Given the wealth of information the Decemvirate receives, is each volume only one to three tales (as implicated in the selected volume summaries), or would each volume have a few major stories in detail, and then have short appendices or brief "news release"-style mention of notable, but less "epic" finds?
1: Seekers of Secrets p. 42
2: Burnt Offerings p. 85
3: Seekers of Secrets p. 42
4: Seekers of Secrets p. 26
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Although it doesn't answer any of your questions, it appears you've done lots of research into the books.. feel free to share your knowledge on the subject on their Wiki Page